We go hands-on with the Vaio Duo 11 and Tap 20 at Sony's club-style press event.

Following a trend, Sony announced pricing and availability for its touch-enabled Windows 8 lineup yesterday. Many of the computers named in the press release are slight variations on existing products with added touchscreens, but two in particular stood out to us: the Vaio Duo 11, an Ultrabook that folds down into a tablet, and the Tap 20, an all-in-one desktop that includes an integrated battery and will lie flat on a table. We took some time at a Sony event in New York City last night to go hands-on with the new hardware, all of which launches alongside Windows 8 on October 26.

A word of warning: Sony held its event in a studio loft set up like a club, complete with a head-bobbing DJ and lights of many shifting and ostentatious colors. For both the Vaio Duo 11 and the Tap 20, I'll provide press images so that you get a clear look at the colors and general form factor, and then my multicolored "Sony Club Mixx" pictures for the details.

Vaio Duo 11

Enlarge/ Sony's Vaio Duo 11 is a convertible laptop, though it's almost thin and light enough to be a suitable standalone tablet.

Sony

The Vaio Duo 11 is yet another convertible PC, but this one has an 11" 1080p IPS touchscreen rather than a 13" screen—the reduced size and weight (2.86 pounds) makes it about twice the weight of an iPad, but not much heavier than purpose-built Ivy Bridge tablets like Acer's Iconia W700 (2.3 pounds). This makes it a little more plausible to actually use the laptop in tablet mode.

Enlarge/ The left side of the Duo 11 houses the VGA port, card reader, and headphone jack.

Andrew Cunningham

Enlarge/ On the right, two USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port, and the power button.

Andrew Cunningham

Enlarge/ The Vaio Duo 11 has a full-sized keyboard, but the touch-sensitive mouse nub in the center will take some getting used to.

Andrew Cunningham

Enlarge/ A pressure-sensitive digitizer and pen allow for more precise handwriting input.

Andrew Cunningham

The sliding mechanism on the Duo 11 definitely impacts its usefulness as a standard laptop, however. It has a more-or-less full-sized backlit chiclet keyboard, but no room for any sort of trackpad. Instead, there are mouse buttons on the bottom edge of the device that you're meant to use with a small nub in the middle of the keyboard. This isn't anything like the ThinkPad-esque TrackPoint nubs in other laptops. Rather than a physical nub that you tilt to move the pointer, the Duo 11's nub is an immobile, touch-sensitive dome that operates a bit more like a finger-sized trackpad. It's compact, but it's about as difficult to use as it is to describe.

My major concern with the Duo 11 is its hinge—while the sliding mechanism that transforms it from a laptop to a tablet and back seems very smooth, it's a mechanism with a lot of moving parts. The exposed ribbon cable that attaches to the screen also gives me pause; it gives the PC an unfinished look, and I have definite concerns about its ability to hold up over time.

Enlarge/ The back of the Duo 11 has some rough edges that make it look a bit unfinished.

Andrew Cunningham

Enlarge/ An exposed ribbon cable adds to the unfinished look, and I have my doubts about the complex hinge's longevity.

Andrew Cunningham

The Vaio Duo 11 starts at $1099.99, and goes on sale on October 26. That price will get you an Intel Core i3 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD, as well as two USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet port, a card reader, a VGA port, a headphone jack, and front- and rear-facing 2.4 megapixel cameras. It also includes a pressure-sensitive digitizer and pen for more accurate handwriting input.

Tap 20

Enlarge/ The Tap 20 is an all-in-one that folds down into a giant tablet suitable for use by two or more people.

Sony

The Tap 20 isn't directly comparable to many products on the market right now. When upright, it's a fairly conventional-looking all-in-one PC with a ten-point, 1600×900 touchscreen; Intel Core i3, i5, or i7 processor; 4GB of RAM; and a 500GB hard drive (or optional SSD). The wireless keyboard and mouse are included in the package. Fold the stand up into the back of the machine, though, and it becomes a tabletop-sized tablet large enough for multiple people to gather around.

Enlarge/ A two-player air hockey game being demoed on the Tap 20's screen.

Andrew Cunningham

Enlarge/ The Tap 20's stand is nice and sturdy, if a bit difficult to fold against the back of the machine.

Andrew Cunningham

It requires a bit of elbow grease to fold the Tap 20's stand completely flat against the back of the machine, but its rigidity speaks well of its build quality and longevity—you'll want something that lasts if you're going to be converting it from desktop to tablet mode frequently.

The PC also has a battery installed that is reportedly capable of around three hours of battery life. The computer's size and weight (11.4 pounds) are both enough that you won't want to pack it up and take it with you on a long trip, but it makes it easy to lift it off your desk and take it to your coffee table and vice versa.

Enlarge/ The Tap 20's power jack and Ethernet port are located on the right side of the device.

Andrew Cunningham

Enlarge/ On the left, we have a card reader, two USB 3.0 ports, and a headphone and microphone jack.

Andrew Cunningham

The PC also includes an Ethernet port, two USB 3.0 ports, and an SD card slot, as well as NFC capabilities and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. Pricing starts at $879.99, and the device will be available in both black and white when it launches alongside Windows 8 on October 26. We'll be reviewing both of these computers as soon as we can fly in review units from Club Sony.

The great thing about the Duo 11's slider keyboard is that it gives a solid surface for touch (finger or stylus) when unfolded; a traditional laptop hinge will rotate backwards as you apply pressure to the screen, but this is more like an artist's easel for your tablet. Notice how well-suited it is to art usage:

As for durability, which is more likely to give you trouble 18 months down the line: a ribbon cable that shifts position twice per day, or a physical connector in an Asus Transformer-style dock (hybrid, as tablet PC users call them) that is connected and disconnected twice per day? I'm not sure that a ribbon cable is any more prone to long-term problems than a connector that is frequently connected and disconnected.

A 20" screen in this day and age needs to be atleast 1080p, why have such a unique device without it?

Price. The Tap 20 is meant to be an inexpensive family machine. Touchscreen games like the air-hockey game pictured (or Hungry Hungry Hippos or Monopoly) sometimes, all-in-one desktop for your kid's middle school English paper at other times. It's priced at $880, which is a very aggressive price point. A 1080p or 2560x1440 screen would lead to more positive reviews, but it would also lead to a price point that's not as palatable for the target market. This is going after people who also own a Vaio E, not those who also own a Vaio Z.

That said, if the concept succeeds, a higher-spec version will likely eventually follow.

A 20" screen in this day and age needs to be atleast 1080p, why have such a unique device without it?

Price. The Tap 20 is meant to be an inexpensive family machine.

I love high resolution screens, but I think you're correct that this device has a different purpose. I think it's actually rather interesting for that purpose, and given the right software, would be cool. I'd even look at buying one for the kids, so the $880 price point is probably the right move by Sony. When I first saw an article about it, I feared they'd ruin it with a crazy high price, but I'm pleasantly surprised by the price they announced.

I am always dissappointed by Sony notebooks. If I was sony I would go for high-end notebooks with some of the cool Sony Aluminium design language they have in the cameras, music players etc. Some competition to Apple in the Windows world.

The form factor of the Duo 11 is a huge fail for me. Terrible terrible design.

It seem Sony tried to go half-way between tablet and notebook and consequently failed at both. Where is the wrist rest and touchpad for the keyboard? And is the screen fixed at that angle?

See my response a couple posts up (complete with video). The fixed angle allows you to actually use the touchscreen as well when the keyboard is deployed (with a hinge, the screen would slowly-but-continually rotate away from the touch input).

As for the lack of wrist-rest, it's not unprecedented. Look up the Sony Vaio x505.

I am always dissappointed by Sony notebooks. If I was sony I would go for high-end notebooks with some of the cool Sony Aluminium design language they have in the cameras, music players etc. Some competition to Apple in the Windows world.

Instead? All cheap plastic crap.

???

The Vaio Duo 11 is made of magnesium alloy, the same material used in the Vaio S13 and S15. The Vaio Z is made from carbon fiber. Only the less-expensive models have plastic cases (dictated by a price point that Apple has instead chosen to ignore entirely).

The HDMI connector on the Duo 11 has a lightning bolt. Does is support Lightnine Bolt or is that only supported over DisplayPort ports?

That lighting bolt is a reference that the adjacent USB 3.0 is a charging USB port (the other USB 3.0 does not charge). The symbol is not actually related to the HDMI connector; it's just coincidence that the charging USB port was placed next to the HDMI label.

Do any of these forthcoming Win8 tablets have pressure sensitivity? It never seems to be mentioned in any reviews or articles I read, even regarding devices with stylus input, so I always just assume the answer is no. Something to replace a laptop/wacom combo would be awesome...though I fear such a device would come with a Cintiq-like pricetag.

Do any of these forthcoming Win8 tablets have pressure sensitivity? It never seems to be mentioned in any reviews or articles I read, even regarding devices with stylus input, so I always just assume the answer is no. Something to replace a laptop/wacom combo would be awesome...though I fear such a device would come with a Cintiq-like pricetag.

The Vaio Duo 11's pen has 256 levels of pressure sensitivity. It's not wacom; it has an onboard battery (AAAA battery).

The Thinkpad Tablet 2, Samsung Ativ Smart PC, Asus Vivo Tab, and Dell Latitude 10 all use Wacom, with 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity. We're entering a brave new world for tablet PCs where there are multiple wacom options available for under $1000.

the duo11 looks interesting, it's out of the impulse must buy unless more interesting alternatives present price range price range that the Lenovo Lynx is sitting in for me & lacks the sexy tear off screen. but definately interesting. I don't think I'm part of the target market for the tap20 as a single professional computer nerd, but I could see it being pretty cool for folks like my sister, her kid, husband, etc

Seriously? The 11" has higher resolution than the 20"! Are they just waiting for Apple to ream them? Because they just seem to be bending over and waiting for it! They seem to be doing the very minimum they can do just to say that they are advancing the state of PC technology and it is going to come back and bite them in the ass.

The great thing about the Duo 11's slider keyboard is that it gives a solid surface for touch (finger or stylus) when unfolded; a traditional laptop hinge will rotate backwards as you apply pressure to the screen, but this is more like an artist's easel for your tablet. Notice how well-suited it is to art usage:

Seriously? The 11" has higher resolution than the 20"! Are they just waiting for Apple to ream them? Because they just seem to be bending over and waiting for it! They seem to be doing the very minimum they can do just to say that they are advancing the state of PC technology and it is going to come back and bite them in the ass.

You sound like the people were who complained about how low-res the original Ipad was.

The great thing about the Duo 11's slider keyboard is that it gives a solid surface for touch (finger or stylus) when unfolded; a traditional laptop hinge will rotate backwards as you apply pressure to the screen, but this is more like an artist's easel for your tablet. Notice how well-suited it is to art usage:

I'm not an artist, but the lag of that touch screen seems troublesome for painting to me.

Input lag is a known thing, with various ways to respond to it (including throwing better-performing hardware at it). For the most capable drawing tablet on the most capable hardware, you can always find use cases that make it lag, by trying to apply more sophisticated filters and display effects on the fly. This will probably always be the case.

What, no parallel printer port or serial ports? I'll never buy one of these things!

Sorry, I've added nothing to the conversation. It's late Friday and my mind is shot. Actually I won't buy it cause it is a Sony product. ;-)

Is including a 1080p screen really that much of a price increase in this day and age? If people would stop signing up to produce screens below this resolution and everyone moved over, eventually it would become cheaper...

The great thing about the Duo 11's slider keyboard is that it gives a solid surface for touch (finger or stylus) when unfolded; a traditional laptop hinge will rotate backwards as you apply pressure to the screen, but this is more like an artist's easel for your tablet. Notice how well-suited it is to art usage:

I'm not an artist, but the lag of that touch screen seems troublesome for painting to me.

They are aimed at very different markets & look to be pretty good for the apparent markets they are aiming for. One of the wonderful things you find outside the apple ecosystem is that different devices from different OEM's can cater to different markets instead of forcing the different markets to conform to a single device.

The great thing about the Duo 11's slider keyboard is that it gives a solid surface for touch (finger or stylus) when unfolded; a traditional laptop hinge will rotate backwards as you apply pressure to the screen, but this is more like an artist's easel for your tablet. Notice how well-suited it is to art usage:

I'm not an artist, but the lag of that touch screen seems troublesome for painting to me.

They are aimed at very different markets & look to be pretty good for the apparent markets they are aiming for. One of the wonderful things you find outside the apple ecosystem is that different devices from different OEM's can cater to different markets instead of forcing the different markets to conform to a single device.

I agree with your remark in general, but had it anything to do with my remark? I didn't refer to Apple anywhere.

That 11" thing looks very very interesting.If I get this right, the mechanism holds the screen tightly at an angle. Bad if you can't adjust, but good if you poke it without needing something to hold it. That it is so near to the keyboard really adds to the capability of using the touch screen as a trackpad replacement.

The screen is 1080p IPS?Aside from the aspect ratio, that is great. So if I use note taking software, the difference to paper in "how small may I write" should be rather small. And I should be able to read it from an angle when this thing lies on a table.

VGA is odd, but for me it would come in handy. There's enough places that have projectors and only offer analog inputs.

Now the only gripes left are the questionable stability of the hinge mechanism and the non Wacom digitizer.

Didn't even think about the external monitor aspect. Good point. For someone using the Duo 11 in conjunction with an external monitor for art (like in that video I posted above), having a VGA port in addition to an HDMI port would be a useful asset.

But what really tells me that this is meant to just offer everything including the kitchen sink port-wise is the ethernet port on the back. Yep, an ethernet port in 2012. Scoff all you want, but when you find yourself in a hotel room on a business trip with an ethernet cable but no wifi (it happened to me in Klamath Falls, Oregon), who has the last laugh?

I actually got to play with these yesterday at the Sony store in Tokyo, since they have demo models up for playing around with.

The Duo 11 is horrible. I don't understand how the article can indicate "nearly full sized keyboard". I had an 11.6" netbook back in the day, and the keyboard was significantly larger and easier to use. The keyboard on the Sony is pretty much horrible. To the point of barely being usable at all.That means that its functionality as a laptop is somewhat limited.

Add the unadjustable screen angle, and you have a further problem with using it as a laptop.

As a tablet, it's arguably too heavy to hold comfortably (although this would be a problem with most similar form factor devices), but when you include the fact that the keyboard adds next to nothing to the whole product, you have a device which is too heavy to use as a tablet/in tablet mode, and a device which is barely functional as a fixed keyboard device, resulting in something which is hard to argue a use case for, since it fails in both areas.

And that's before you consider the fact it's considerably more expensive than competing products, while also having worse specifications. You can though upgrade to different processors (i3 to i7 ULV processors) as well as go for 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD per the Sony Japan website.

All in all, it's a product which looks fairly nice, but functionality leaves a lot to be desired.From other previews, there is nowhere to actually keep the stylus when not in use, which is another negative, but the stylus itself is reasonable (excluding the obvious lag associated with touch input which applies to most devices).

And that's before you consider the fact it's considerably more expensive than competing products, while also having worse specifications. You can though upgrade to different processors (i3 to i7 ULV processors) as well as go for 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD per the Sony Japan website.

Which competing products are you talking about that cost considerably less but have considerably better specs? What offers a 1080p gorilla-glass-protected touchscreen, Ivy Bridge, a 128 gb SSD, and a digitizer stylus for considerably less than $1099? Or are you just talking about Japanese-market pricing, not the American-market pricing?

The one and only product I know of that offers comparable specs for a lower price is the Acer Iconia W700, which offers no keyboard AND no stylus (relying on finger alone, whereas the Duo 11 gives you the choice of all three), weighs more than 2/3s the weight of the Duo 11 despite having no keyboard, and delivers Acer's (in)famous brand reputation. I'm not aware of anyone else that offers better value than the Duo 11. Apple certainly doesn't; this is priced right against the MBA line, despite having a 1080p screen, touchscreen, and digitizer.